That the arrangement of the Dixie network is a confusing one to many of WBT's radio audience is evidenced by the great number of letters and telephone calls received at the Charlotte studios, according to Earle T. Gluck, general manager.
The most erroneous idea to be expressed is the often repeated question asking if the Dixie network programs comes from New York, states Mr. Gluck. The Dixie network, it is explained, is comparable to the nation-wide network of the Columbia Broadcasting system in operation, if not in size. Columbia programs usually originate from station WABC in New York, the key station of the system.
Occasionally other stations may be used from which to transmit CBS programs, but basically that is the arrangement; the Columbia network programs, from the Columbia key station WABC, are sent by telephone land wire to all stations on the chain, including WBT, when it is broadcasting CBS features. The key station, while sending the program to other stations by land wire, is usually also sending it on the air via its own transmitter.
In the instance of the Dixie network, WBT is the key station, broadcasting from its Charlotte studios through its transmitter, and at the same time feeding the programs by land wire to the list of southern stations which comprise the Dixie network. On occasion programs will be picked up from Washington, D. C., or other points of interest, sent by land wire to WBT, and thence broadcast over the Charlotte station while it is being fed on to the other Dixie network stations simultaneously.